SPEED RECORD.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19460, 6 November 1928, Page 11

SPEED RECORD.

D'ARCY GREIG FAILS.

INTENDS TO TRY AGAIN.

CONDITIONS UNFULFILLED

(UNITED PBESB ABSOCIATIOK—BY ELBCTBIO TELEGRAPH—COPraiOHT.) LONDON, November 4. In the bright autumn sunshine thousands of people, from vantage points around Calshot, saw Flight-Lieutenant D'Arcy Greig fly faster than anyone in Britain has ever done, but not fast enough to defeat Major di Bernardi's world record.

Conditions were ideal with good visibility and little wind. The sea was calm when Greig's seaplane was towed to the Solent. It taxied faster and faster, churning up the spray. It then climbed in the direction of the Isle of Wight and rose to a height of 1200 feet. It then swooped down, with its engine screaming to 50 feet above the sea for the first attempt on a measured mile. It gave the fascinated onlookers a new and astonishing conception of speed, visiting Cowes, Ryde, Calshot, and Southampton within four minutes.

Six times the machine rose to the maximum permitted height and then swooped down on the official level course, the speed being officially measured by camera guns, which simultaneously photographed the, face of a stop watoh and the seaplane passing a given spot. Flight-Lieutenant Greig expressed the opinion that during his all-out dives towards the course, he attained a speed of 340 miles an hour. The engine ran perfectly at 3900 revolutions a minute.

Aviation officials gave him an ovation and shouldered him when he landed. Flight-Lieutenant Greig bore the disappointment of not establishing a new record with composure. He declared that he was most willing to have another "whack" if the Air Ministry will permit him. Although Flight-Lieutenant D'Arcy Greig, who was piloting Webster's Schneider Cup winner, flew at an unprecedented speed, averaging 319.57 miles an hour, he was unable to claim a new record, owing to his failure to exceed Major di Bernardi's 318.82 miles an hour by five miles hourly, in accordance with the rules of the Federation Aeronautique Internationals.

Flight-Lieutenant Greig was altogether twenty-eight minutes in the air. The time-keepers announced that his times for the four selected runs gave the following speeds: 322.63 miles an hour, 316.54 miles, 319.56 miles, and 319.56 miles, giving a mean speed of 319.57 miles an hour.

The expert of the "Morning Post" says:—"Thus the Italians retain the record, and it seems unlikely that the present British machines can beat it. The Air Ministry may permit Lieutenant Greig to renew the attempt with a different air sorew fitted." The "Daily' Telegraph" understands that the Air Ministry will not permit another attempt until the seaplanes now being designed for the Schneider Cup in 1929 are completed.—Australian Press Association.

THE MOTOR RECORD.

ENGLISHMEN'S PLANS.

(BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.)

(Received November sth, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, November 4.

Captain Malcolm Campbell, who left by 'plane for the Sahara recently, hopes to discover a 12-mile Btretch of hard, level sand suitable for his attempt to beat the world's motor-car speed record in his Campbell-Itapier. car. He understands that such a stretch exists in the middle of the Sahara and believes that if he can obtain a sufficient run before entering the measured course he can capture the record. Meanwhile Major Segrave is also busy with plans for establishing a fresh speed record.